Take a Challenge! by Susan Tuttle

Susan Tuttle

Our first full week of 2016 is over! I can hardly believe it. As we stare down this new year, many of us have made resolutions or are focused on One Word for the upcoming months. New habits and new focuses are wonderful to have. They help us form a fresh start for the days ahead, but what about a new challenge?

If we don’t constantly challenge ourselves as writers, we grow stagnate, and our readers will feel it. It can be easy to churn out what we know, after all, there’s a certain comfort level in the familiar. And while familiar is good for readers, losing the fresh angle to our voice is not.

So this year I challenge you to take on a challenge. Here’s some ideas for varying levels of writers:

1.  If you write full length, try a novella or even flash fiction to tighten your words and plot. This forces you to focus on the main points of your story along with truly considering each word. In tightening sentences you’ll discover new ways to say old things, continue to grow your vocabulary, and ditch overused words.

2.  On the flip side, if you write shorter length, try a full length. Dive into the extra word count that will push you to learn how to weave in secondary characters with, perhaps, their own plots. Learn to juggle the small story within the big. Deepen descriptions. Expand the world you’re creating.

3.  If you’re a Pantser, try at least outlining your story. Push yourself to envision at least the bare bones of where the story needs to travel and write those notes down. You may find it saves you from rabbit trails and major editing later on.

4.  Read books on craft and apply what you learn! Many of us are out of school, but we should never stop learning. Take a month, put away your computer, and pick up a book on something you’re struggling to learn. Some great ones are:

a.  Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Brown & King
b.  Make a Scene by Jordan Rosenfield
c.  Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell

5.  Show your work to others. It can be scary, but the feedback is invaluable. And I’m not talking about people who love you and will gush over your words even when they are not so gushable. If a writer is going to grow, they need constructive criticism. You should have both a great critique partner and also unbiased readers. It’s scary, but at some point you have to put your work out there.

6.  Attend a writers’ conference. Yes, I know, many of us are introverts (my hand cannot raise any higher on this one), but the connections you make—both industry wise and on a friendship level—will enrich your writing life. Plus, to go with challenge #5, the education you receive at these conferences is amazing. I’ve attended both large scale and smaller scale conferences (ACFW and Breathe are 2 of my favorite) and have only grown in my writing life as an outcome.

I’d love to hear any other challenges you may already be taking or have done in the past to improve your writing. We can all learn from one another. Writing may feel like a solitary thing, but it’s in community that we grow the most.

Happy New Year, friends!

Susan Tuttle is a homeschooling mom of three who is crazy about coffee, dark chocolate, and words—both reading and writing them. Combine that love of words with her passion for leading women to a life-changing encounter with Christ, and you’ll find her crafting Inspirational Contemporary Romance stories laced with humor, love, and healing transformations. When not cheering on her Ironman hubby, chasing the family dog, or tackling complex math problems to teach her kids (yes, even the third grader), you can catch Susan at her blog, Steps.

Susan contributes on the first Thursday of each month.

 

What is True Royalty? by Marianne Evans

Marianne Evans

What’s the message? God, what do You intend as You author the pages of the book I’m writing?

Those are important questions to ask, and usually I feel a solid Spirit push once I create a story. In general terms I know the conflict, the theme, character arcs and resolution. That’s not meant to imply the message God puts on my heart is easily expressed, or drifts from my brain to the printed page in a perfect free-flow…no way, and don’t I wish!

But then came The Fairytale. I recently clicked ‘send’ on this manuscript and delivered it to my editor. The Fairytale centers on a princess and the commoner with whom she falls in love. Crafting this story was quite different for me. The words and scenes flew from my fingertips, and that was a joyful surprise. Usually there are points where I struggle to finesse the plot, or properly align conflict with a realistic resolution.

Here’s what startled me as one scene built and flowed into the next: I had no idea what was coming to be until the book was finished and I began to read it through with a stronger editorial eye. It was then that I realized there was no physical villain. No bad man or woman bent on causing chaos within the lives of my protagonists. Rather, the villain of The Fairytale is modern culture. The crux of its conflict comes from invasiveness, from societal perception, pressures and expectations that are often in direct opposition to my hero and heroine’s Christian perspectives.

That’s a heavy conflict to overcome, and here’s what else struck home. You don’t have to be in the public eye to feel the weight of those burdens, which makes the story relatable. After all, I’m nobody’s royal—although I readily confess to a love affair with sparkly tiaras—however, I feel increasing and hazardous pressure from the world around me to conform, ‘play nice’ and ‘go with the flow.’ Many times as a Christian I’m expected to deny my beliefs and follow culture’s secular lead. If I don’t, I run the painful risk of being marginalized as judgmental, bigoted or self-righteous. If I don’t support ‘this’ agenda or ‘that’ idea, I’m wrong, intolerant and way out of step.

The only way I know to change that tide is to live my life honestly, but in a manner that demonstrates the power of God’s loving redemption and grace.

So those realizations I stumbled upon as the result of writing The Fairytale aren’t just for future readers. They’re for me, too. After all, Jesus was royal to the highest power—yet he was common. He served. He had no armies, no official governance, yet he became a leader who turned a handful of followers into billions. He gave himself away out of unconditional, perfect love.

Therein resides my most powerful and enduring barometer of true royalty.

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Whatis true royalty?

There's a battle looming between Christianity and modern culture.

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Aiden Balfour has always craved stability, independence and security. He’s led a rocky life but always treasured his summers in Northern Michigan with his best summertime friend, Olivia Masters.

Olivia is dedicated to preserving the life she’s known and always treasured at her grandparent’s home high on a bluff overlooking the pristine waters of Avalon. With their blessing, she’s turned the expansive piece of property into a quaint, restful bed and breakfast.

But developers are circling—and they’re led by none other than Aiden Balfour.

Now an ambitious businessman, he’s determined to turn the lake into a tourist mecca. A successful business owner, Olivia is equally determined to stop him...no matter what his hold on her heart.

Can the innocent joy and love of their youth be reclaimed? Can Then…and now…ever be reconciled to a future overflowing with love, and hope?

~~~~~

Then & Now is part of the Pure Amore imprint at Pelican Book Group. Pure Amore is a ‘book of the month’ subscription service featuring Christian romances centered on the concept of pre-marital purity and abstinence that doesn’t surrender one moment of the thrill to be found when two people fall in love. Check out Then & Now and the other wonderful Pure Amore titles at Pelican Book Group.

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Marianne Evans is a multi-award-winning author of Christian romance and fiction with over twenty titles to her credit. Her hope is to spread the faith-affirming message of God’s love through the stories He prompts her to create.

Happily married and the mother of two, Marianne is a lifelong resident of Michigan who is active in a number of Romance Writers of America chapters, most notably the Greater Detroit Chapter where she served two terms as President.

Connect with Marianne:

Website ~ Blog ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Amazon ~ Pinterest